Feeding Asia

RBTH spoke to Duma deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov on the sidelines of the APEC CEO summit, where he moderated a panel on “Food Resources: How to Feed Seven Billion People.”

RBTH: One of the four priorities put forth by Russia
for this year’s APEC agenda is food security. What interests and goals is it
trying to promote?

Vyacheslav Nikonov: Before the
1917 revolution Russia was a net grain exporter to Europe. In the second half
of the 20th century it became an importer, and at the start of the 21st century
we started exporting again. Asia was never viewed as a potential market because
for much of that history it had a poor population. Nowadays the eight largest
APEC countries by population import 100 million tons of grain annually. That’s
more than Russia produces. We can’t miss this opportunity to get our niche and
attract technology from neighboring countries.

RBTH: What are the barriers preventing Russia from
exporting grain to Asian markets?

V.N.: First, the port
infrastructure isn’t there. While there are ports capable of handling that kind
of cargo in the West of Russia (e.g. Novorossiysk, Tagaron, etc.), there are
none in the East.

Second, we
don’t have the transportation in place to get it to port, either. The Trans-Siberian
railway can’t handle that amount of cargo, nor can the existing roads. This
makes costs very high, even for grain coming from Siberia. These prices keep
growing.

Finally, in
order to be cost-efficient, cargo needs to move both ways along the
Trans-Siberian. Right now grain is coming from European Russia to Asia and
empty wagons are going in the other direction. Therefore the price increases
further.

RBTH: There was talk of attracting foreign labor and
technology to improve farming in Russia’s Far East. At what stage are these
plans?

V.N.: At a very
preliminary one. The Far East has potential to develop agriculture, but it will
never replace the Volga Region or the North Caucasus (even though those two
regions are currently experiencing difficult weather conditions).

There are
no major obstacles preventing the Far East from becoming agriculturally
self-sufficient. However, if we’re talking about exporting grain to Asia, this
is a possibility in the future. After all, Russia was the world’s second
largest grain exporter last year. APEC countries account for about 37-38 percent of
all imports worldwide. Our percentage of that is currently zero.

Agriculture
is developing in the Fast East. Investment is flowing in, and foreigners
already work on our farms. You may have heard of North Korean labor in Siberia
and the Far East.

Plans to
develop the port infrastructure I mentioned earlier have also been developed.

RBTH: Should this plan succeed, which Asian markets
would be the first to import Russian grain?

V.N.: The ones
with the highest populations buy the most grain– China, Japan, South Korea,
Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines.